A Shinigami's Journey
by BahamutReishiki
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki was never one to put much thought into a half-remembered dream, but that all changed when demons invade the Earth. Forced to flee with the help of a mysterious stranger, Ichigo finds himself in a world where magic is real and humans aren't the only people around. Will he be able to find a way back home to avenge those lost to the Burning Legion?


_As a double uploading with Chapter 25 of To My Death I Fight I present to you the first chapter of my rewritten story - Rise of the True Death God. It's new title is going to be **A Shinigami's Journey**. After working and writing TMDiF, I noticed that my writing style has improved and I wanted to go back and compare it to my earlier stories, of which this was my favorite. After reading through all 8 chapters, I noticed how...well...badly my writing was compared to my current level so here is the rewritten first chapter. It may look strangely familiar to the original one, but it's much better and i promise that Ichigo's journey will NOT be the same as the original story. What would be the point in reading that then?  
_

_Note that as of this moment it is merely a one shot since I want to focus all my attention on my Kill la Kill story. I will simply do this in my spare time (if I even have the time to begin with). So do not worry. This is not an actual ONE SHOT story, I'm simply calling it that since it might remain one chapter until after Chapter 26 is posted._

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**Chapter 1 - Death and the Prophet**

Ichigo opened his eyes and immediately spit a clump of dirt out of his mouth. Groaning and rubbing the back of his neck, he picked himself off the moist and damp forest floor and realized he was no longer in his room.

"Where am I?"

That was a very good question. At first Ichigo thought he was still dreaming, he had been having some crazy and realistic dreams of skyscrapers and buildings lately, but the vividness and detail of the forest just seemed too real. Running his hand against a nearby tree, he paused as he felt the bark under his fingers crackle and resist his touch. Chipping off a piece of bark, he frowned as he ran his fingers over it. With the birds chirping all around him, the sounds of animals in the distance and the smell of the forest itself enveloping him, Ichigo began to think that something strange was going on. If he didn't know that he had been sleeping in his bed the night before he would think he was somehow transported to another world.

"Ok," Ichigo looked through the foggy woods as his mind tried to wrap around what was happening, "Let's take a step back and think about this. The last thing I remember is going to sleep in my bed while Rukia was off somewhere doing official shinigami business or something. Dad was whining to Karin about something she said and Yuzu was trying to console him. I remember all that but I don't know how I ended up here."

"Wait a second," Ichigo looked throughout the area as an idea dawned on him, "Could this be my inner world or something?"

A few days ago Ichigo had decided to ask Rukia about the shinigami and everything they could do. He didn't think the shinigami could only swing their swords or zanpakuto around and cleanse hollows. There had to be more to the job.

Rukia had been surprised at his question, but she quickly recovered and went into a lengthy diatribe accompanied by her horrendous pictures about the different aspects of a shinigami's duty. One of the things that peaked Ichigo's rapidly disappeared attention was that all zanpakuto had a spirit. A shinigami could communicate with the spirit by meditating and using their zanpakuto, but she went on to say that since Ichigo wasn't a true shinigami he wouldn't have a zanpakuto spirit. His zanpakuto was only a temporary blade used to slay and cleanse hollows and souls.

"That shows what Rukia knows," Ichigo gloated as he thought about the prospect of meeting his zanpakuto's spirit. He wondered what it would look like and what kind of powers it would have.

"_**Hurry…"**_

"Who's there?" Ichigo spun around, his feet loudly crunching the fallen leaves on the ground as he looked for whoever was talking to him. That had to be his zanpakuto spirit, but something seemed odd about it. He knew that this was all new territory for him but he couldn't help to shake the feeling that there was something going on that was different from what Rukia told him.

As a deafening silence permeated the forest, Ichigo reached for the spot where his zanpakuto would be only to find it missing. Ever since he obtained the power needed to protect his family and friends, whenever he had dreams his zanpakuto would always be right by his side. The fact that it was missing worried him more than he would have likely admitted. Lowering his arm back to his side and glancing through the thickening fog, Ichigo wondered what exactly was going on.

"_**There is no time to waste Ichigo Kurosaki. Your world does not have much time left."**_

That time the voice sounded as if it was coming from his left. Without a second thought Ichigo began running through the shadowy woods, heedless of the fact that as he dodged through the trees and over fallen logs the fog that was so thick was swallowing up everything behind him. So focused was Ichigo on finding the source of the voice talking to him that he did not notice the trees and plants begin to twist and shift into new and exotic flora that had never before been seen on Earth.

"_**We do not have much time before they find you."**_

Forcing his way through a line of bushes in front of him, Ichigo finally reached the edge of the forest and realized just how surreal everything had become. The land twisted and shifted around him like putty while overhead islands of land with several types of trees not native to Earth hovered silently, uncaring of their observer. Swallowing nervously as he felt something watching him, Ichigo cautiously walked through the field of purple grass in front of him and almost hit a dryad.

The creature with the upper body of a purple skinned woman and the lower body of a fawn quickly leapt around Ichigo before scoffing angrily at him, "How rude. Don't you watch where you're going?"

"I'm sorry," Ichigo apologized sheepishly before it dawned on him that he was talking to something that wasn't human, "Wait. You can talk?"

"Of course I can talk," the dryad playfully ran a finger through her green hair before rolling her eyes, "What kind of druid are you to not know that?"

"Druid?" Ichigo arched an eyebrow in confusion. He had no idea who or what the thing in front of him was but it would be rude to not answer her question. If his dreams were going to talk to him he might as well talk back, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a shinigami not a druid. I don't even know how I got here."

The dryad found Ichigo's explanation odd and took a step closer to him in order to investigate the matter further. Now that she thought about it, there was no way this orange haired human could be a druid. There weren't many human druids to begin with and all of them were known far and wide across the Emerald Dream and none of them looked anything like the boy in front of her. She was about to ask who he was when she looked down at the ground and noticed the beautiful purple grass slowly withering away around Ichigo's feet.

"Undead!" She seethed in fear and anger before turning and fleeing away from a completely perplexed Ichigo.

Ichigo watched the dryad run away from him in confusion. Looking down at his feet, which were the last place the dryad looked before running off, he saw the grass around his feet withering away and dying. Frowning in confusion, he bent down and touched one of the blades. Whatever was happening to the grass, it was almost as if it was aging rapidly right before his eyes.

"_**There is no time to focus on such trivial matters,"**_Ichigo's body shook when a loud clap of thunder echoed through the Emerald Dream. Turning around, he came face to face with a hooded man, his face cast in perpetual shadow, and a staff adorned with several multicolored feathers.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked. His nerves were on edge from the storm on the horizon, "How do you know me?"

"_**There is no time for such questions. Ysera's brood is already aware of your presence in the Emerald Dream! It was reckless of me to speak with you in such a manner, Ichigo Kurosaki, but it was the only way. I have failed humanity once and I shall not do so a second time!"**_

"Speak to me?" Ichigo twisted his head when he heard loud roars in the distance followed by the ground shaking.

The man seemed to have also sensed the approaching presence because when he slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground, a burst of energy shot out around Ichigo, temporarily freezing time around him, _**"I have expended the last of my power to deliver unto you a warning of grave danger, Ichigo Kurosaki! The Deceiver's eyes have set their gaze onto your world and even as we speak the shadow of his long arm seeks to engulf and burn everything you cherish. You must find a way to stop him before he arrives or all will be lost."**_

"The Deceiver? What are you taking about?" Ichigo was shaken when the man pointed his finger at him and time suddenly began moving again. Reaching forward to grab the man by his shoulder and demand answers, he stumbled when he passed right through him almost as if the man was a ghost. While the man's form wavered and vanished into thin air, Ichigo only had a moment or two to wonder what had happened before he jumped backwards to avoid being crushed beneath the foot of an enormous, and angry, green dragon.

When the dragon's emerald eyes focused completely on him, Ichigo involuntarily gulped, "Oh crap…"

Vethsera gazed at the undead that had dared to intrude upon the sacred Emerald Dream before quickly recoiling in disgust at the unholy aura surrounding Ichigo. While her eyes saw a living and breathing male human, the power she felt did not belong to any living creature. Growling deeply, she took a deep breath before shouting loudly enough for every dreamer and druid in the Emerald Dream to hear, **"Your kind is not welcome here!"**

With a roar that almost shattered Ichigo's eardrums a veritable flood of green flames spewed forth from Vethsera's mouth towards him. The emerald flames of a green dragon could never harm a denizen of the Emerald Dream nor any visitors allowed by the Green Dragonflight. The same could not be said for a perceived enemy such as Ichigo, for as he jumped to the side and out of the way of the flames, the bottom of his shihakusho was unfortunately caught in the attack and immediately disintegrated into nothingness.

"_That was close,"_ he thought as he turned and sprinted away from Vethsera. He needed a plan to survive the fight but without his zanpakuto or even any clue as to where he was, his options were very limited. As he continued to run away from Vethsera, dodging every single burst of emerald fire she breathed at him, Ichigo found the edges of his vision blackening before eventually he was surrounded by darkness.

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With a silent gasp Ichigo woke up back in his own bed.

Breathing heavily as he looked around his familiar and safe room, Ichigo let out a sigh of relief as he collapsed back down on his bed. That dream had felt too real for comfort. Thoughts about who that man was and why there was a dragon in there continued to plague his mind. He tried to put it behind him and convince himself that it had just been a vivid nightmare and nothing more. But the more he tried to convince himself, the more it stayed at the forefront of his mind.

"_Well, at least it's over now."_

Looking at the clock next to his bed and seeing that it was nearly seven in the morning, Ichigo sat back up and yawned. If it was already that late in the morning he might as well get up and have breakfast. He could already smell food in the air, which meant Yuzu was most likely cooking down in the kitchen. As he put on his school uniform while rubbing a kink in his neck, Ichigo went over the dream just one last time before leaving.

"_I know it was just a dream but it felt so real. Rukia might know something about this."_

Ichigo stopped just before he left his room when he heard something rustling inside his closet. Curious as to what it could be, since Rukia was never inside by the time he got up, he opened the door and was greeted by Kon leaping out of a pile of clothes and onto his face.

"Kon," Ichigo clenched his hand around the plushie's head and asked, "Why the hell are you in my closet?"

Kon frantically tried to free himself but found his current strength to be somewhat lacking, "It was terrible Ichigo. Your sister is a monster! She takes me and dresses me up in all these girly clothes and calls me Bostov! My name is Kon not Bostov! I swear your sister is worse than a hollow! If I were you I'd – "

He was cut off as Ichigo's other hand closed around his face in a futile attempt to smother the mod soul. Ichigo knew well enough that he couldn't kill Kon when he was in such a state but it helped him to relieve a lot of stress, "The deal we had was that you'd stay with Yuzu and Karin for the next few days. Yuzu's going to get suspicious when she heads back to her room and finds you missing."

"But Ichigo – "

Ichigo didn't bother listening to any excuses from the mod soul. In one quick and deliberate motion he stepped out of his room, opened the door to Yuzu and Karin's room and threw Kon into the room so hard that the mod soul bounced off the far wall before sliding miserably to the ground. As the mod soul recovered from his ordeal and made a break for the door, Ichigo quickly slammed it shut and locked it.

"_I suppose I should tell Yuzu and Karin to stay out of their room all day."_ Ichigo pondered the pros and cons of leaving Kon locked up in the room before shrugging his shoulders and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, _"What's the worst that can happen to him anyway?"_

With the problem solved for the time being, Ichigo let out a tired yawn as he collapsed at the table. The weird dream from the previous night had mentally exhausted him and he was not looking forward to an entire day of school. As a plate topped with waffles and toast was placed in front of him, Ichigo looked up at a beaming Yuzu Kurosaki.

"Morning, Yuzu," Ichigo waved half-heartedly as he began to eat his food, "I see you decided to really go out today."

"Uh huh!" Yuzu nodded happily at the praise from her brother and pointed to various other foods on the table, "I got up early today to make a special breakfast. There are scrambled eggs, toast, waffles, and eggplant for dad since he needs to watch his cholesterol."

Karin grumbled angrily as she poked at her food, "There would have been bacon if old goat face hadn't discovered where Yuzu was hiding it last night."

Ichigo nodded and was about to eat when he noticed the television was on. While that wasn't that uncommon in the morning, his dad liked to listen to the early news to see how Karakura Town was, the fact that the local program wasn't centered on his town was strangely curious.

"Turn that up."

Without even looking away from her breakfast Karin grabbed the remote off the table and pressed the mute button. Instantly the program restarted midsentence.

"…_no official __word on the cause of the blackouts and power outages across the world. So far the scope has been limited to only a couple of dozen cities and towns across the world but government officials are certain these outages are not the work of either domestic or foreign terrorists. One of this studio's sources, an engineer working for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, states that what happened is similar to an electric surge but says the safety of the nuclear reactors was not compromised by the unprecedented event. For more on how the world is dealing with this strange occurrence we go to our reporter in Washington, D.C."_

The news anchor vanished and was replaced by a man standing in front of the White House, _"__The latest report from the United States is that the various electrical problems experienced across the globe is the result of a massive electrical storm similar in nature to the one that caused the 1989 Quebec blackout. Authorities urge citizens to remain calm and are certain power will be restored within a few days.__ On a related note scientists at NASA are mystified as to how this could occur when no such solar phenomenon has been observed…"_

Karin glanced over her shoulder at the television before shrugging and going back to her food, "That's all they've been talking about since I got up. Apparently stuff like this is happening all over the world. I texted a friend who's vacationing in France and she replied that Paris is without power."

Ichigo couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was off. It was one thing to have an unexplained blackout in one country but for it to happen all over the world at the same time? The odds of that happening had to be astronomical. For a moment he couldn't help but remember what he could of his dream and of the forgotten warning but in the end he simply shrugged and went back to eating. The problem was going to be fixed in a couple of hours so there would be no point in worrying about it.

"Well I'm off to school."

Grabbing his bag from the nearby counter he slung it over his shoulder and waved goodbye, "If you see dad tell him I might be a little late coming home tonight. I have a class project to work on with Chad and Orihime. I should be back around dinner at the latest."

After Yuzu handed him his lunch Ichigo decided he might as well leave for school. Although he usually left a couple of minutes later he had nothing better to do and he might even be able to take a nap once he got there. Leaving through the front door, and making sure it was locked behind him, he turned to walk down the street when he saw Orihime and Tatsuki waiting in front of his house. Initially engrossed in conversation, Orihime perked up when she saw Ichigo's orange hair and waved.

"Good morning Ichigo!"

Ichigo raised a hand in return, "Hey Orihime, Tatsuki. What are you doing here?"

Orihime tried to say something but Tatsuki quickly covered it with her hand, causing the orange haired girl to mumble incoherently, "Orihime wanted to walk to school with you. There was something she wanted to say but I think it can wait until we get to school."

"Whatever," Ichigo shrugged. He hadn't even been up for an hour and yet the day was turning out to be really weird. His only hope was that it didn't get any weirder or he might not make it through the day with his sanity intact.

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"Does anyone know the answer to problem eleven on page 132?"

Ichigo stared out the window of his classroom while doing his best to drown out the voice of his teacher, Misato Ochi. While he would usually be able to pay attention without much effort, something was bugging him. There was a strange feeling in the air. It was almost as if the atmosphere itself was charged with energy and set to go off any moment.

"_I still can't get over that dream last night."_

Ichigo wasn't one to believe in prophecies or predicting the future but the dream was too vivid to have been just that. While he's had some outlandish dreams and nightmares over the years, Ichigo couldn't recall ever experiencing anything like last night. From the forest to that creature to the man and finally to the enormous green dragon, nothing about it made sense. He knew he should ignore it and let it go but after fighting hollows with various supernatural abilities he couldn't take anything for granted. His instincts were telling him something was amiss and he was inclined to believe them.

"Alright then," Ms. Ochi slammed her teacher's textbook she was holding in her hand against her desk. As the students that were either daydreaming or sleeping were startled back to full consciousness, a tick mark developed on her temple. It seemed that, as usual, no one was willing or able to give her the proper answer, "Since none of you genius are motivated enough to raise your hands, I think I'll just pick one out one of you at random. Let's see now…today's lucky volunteer is – "

Misato Ochi was prevented from enacting her revenge when the lights in the classroom flickered before going out. Amidst the muttering and whispers of his fellow students, Ichigo looked outside and noticed that the lack of power wasn't just limited to Karakura High School. Every building within eyesight was without power. Even the streetlights were off, which was strange since their power grid was separate, and in the distance came the sounds of horns and brakes as several cars barely avoided hitting each other.

As the muttering in the classroom grew louder by the second, Ms. Ochi slammed her book several times on the desk, "That's enough out of the lot of you!"

The whispering died down as quickly as it appeared as the authority in her voice quickly spread through the classroom. Nobody, not even Ichigo, wanted to be on the wrong end of Ms. Ochi's ire on a day like today.

"Now that I have your attention, like I should have had from the very beginning, it appears that we have lost power," Ms. Ochi pulled open the shades on the windows, letting in the early afternoon light. As several students groaned, she smirked and picked up her book, "It's a good thing we have the bright, beautiful sun outside to light up the room. Now, if there are no more complaints, the lucky student to answer my question will be – "

"Ah, Ms. Ochi," the door to the classroom was opened by the vice principal. The middle-aged man adjusted his thick glasses before continuing to speak, "Classes have been canceled for the rest of the day due to the blackout across Karakura Town. Please send your students home."

As the vice principal left, Ichigo's fellow students began whispering excitedly to each other about what they would do once they got home. Foremost among them was Keigo, who had leapt out of his desk and into the air in celebration about having no school. Ichigo watched as a book sailed through the air and slammed into Keigo's face. Watching his friend slowly float to the floor unconscious Ichigo turned towards whoever had thrown the book. He might not condone attacking those too weak to fight back but he needed to congratulate whoever had managed to finally shut Keigo up before he could go into one of his rather annoying rants.

"Now then…" Ms. Ochi was visibly seething with rage at her class being interrupted not once, but twice. Lowering her outstretch arm from when she had thrown her textbook at Keigo she took a moment to compose herself before speaking. Hitting Keigo was one thing since everyone did it but trying to do the same to anyone else was bad, "Since it appears we will not be finishing class today I am assigning chapter 7 for homework tonight. I expect the homework to be on my desk tomorrow morning before class. Oh, and someone please tell Mr. Asano when he regains consciousness about the homework. I don't want him whining to me yet again."

While Ms. Ochi stormed out of the classroom to go back home for the day and relax, Ichigo leaned back in his desk and let out a tired sigh. This day was just one weird thing after another and quite frankly he wasn't anticipating anything else strange happening.

"Hey Ichigo."

Ichigo sat back up at the familiar deep voice. Turning around in his seat he saw Cad walking towards him. Raising a hand and waving at his friend, he said, "Hey Chad. What's up?"

Chad looked across the classroom at an ecstatic Orihime, who was celebrating the early day by whipping out her customized lunch filled with food she prepared herself. While Orihime was more than willing to share her food with all her friends, Ichigo knew better than to accept any of her food. The only person who would even try Orihime's food was her best friend Tatsuki and that was only because Tatsuki had been friends with her long enough to acquire a sort of immunity to the food's taste.

"Orihime…she seems to be taking this quite well…"

"Nothing ever bothers her," Ichigo scoffed and folded his arms behind his neck, "You still up for going to the library later on for our project?"

"Yeah," Chad nodded stoically, "I might be a little late though. I have a few errands to run beforehand."

Ichigo watched Chad walk away before sighing and turning his attention to the clock on the wall. It was only eleven in the morning and yet he was bored. If Rukia had gone off to who knows where he could go out and hunt down some hollows. Although, propping his head on an arm and closing his eyes, without all the work of saving souls he could take a nap. Without Rukia's persisting voice and Keigo's annoying one he might finally get some decent sleep, especially after last night.

An uneasy feeling suddenly washed over Ichigo, causing him to sit up in his desk. Looking around, it was clear that he wasn't the only to have felt that. While his mind tried to figure out what might be causing the intense unease he was feeling, another familiar but also annoying sound was picked up by his ears – the sound of someone running in the halls. There were only a couple of people brazen enough to run through the halls in the middle of the school day, but there was only one person that would be heading in this direction.

As the sound of running footsteps grew closer and closer, the entire class turned towards the door. When the sounds abruptly stopped in front of the classroom and yet the door did not open, the remaining students looked to each other and shrugged. Perhaps whoever it was simply decided to start walking. That notion was quickly shattered when Rukia Kuchiki kicked the door to the classroom open, the heel of her shoe slightly smoking from the force needed to knock the solid wooden door off its hinges.

"Ichigo!" Rukia easily zeroed in on Ichigo's unique crop of orange hair, "We have to get going right now!"

"Like hell I'm going anywhere with you, you midget," Ichigo turned his head even further away from Rukia. He didn't want to deal with this crap today and besides, Rukia's voice was giving him a headache, "Why don't you find someone else to go play around with?"

Due to having turned his head away Ichigo did not see Rukia's face turn beet red from embarrassment but he did manage to hear her incomprehensible muttering and cursing just before she leapt across the classroom and attempted to kick him in the face. It was lucky for Ichigo that the last few weeks of being a substitute shinigami had improved his reflexes several times over, allowing him to easily and lazily lean backwards and just barely avoid having Rukia's voice embed itself in his cheek. For a moment it appeared that he had avoided her attack, but Rukia Kuchiki was anything if not resourceful. She always had a Plan B. That was why as Ichigo was leaning back her hand reached out and grabbed the front of his school uniform tightly enough to cause him to choke.

"There will be no arguing!" With nearly superhuman strength that caused Ichigo to doubt if Rukia had actually lost her powers in the first place, she pulled him out of his chair and started dragging him towards the classroom door.

"Hey! Let go of me you crazy midget!"

Everyone watched as Rukia dragged Ichigo through the door and down the hallway, his screams of protest growing dimmer and dimmer until there was nothing but silence. While they were all wondering what the hell that had been about, it was Orihime with her mouth full of what one hoped was bread who asked, "Oh! Do you think Rukia is taking Ichigo out on a date?"

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Ichigo scowled as he listened to Rukia prattle on about something he just didn't care about. Standing on the edge of the building she had dragged him to after separating his soul from his body, Ichigo's shihakusho ruffled in the breeze as he felt something off in the air. Try as he might to pinpoint what it was he was feeling, the most he could figure out was a sense that something was going to go wrong. If something like this had happened on any other day he would have simply ignored it in place of slaying hollows but after the crazy dream he had last night Ichigo couldn't just let it go.

"Stupid little piece of junk!" Rukia growled and smacked her Denreishinki against her leg in the frustrated hope that it would fix whatever electrical or mechanical problems her phone might be having.

"What's the matter now?"

Rukia pouted as she fumbled around with her Denreishinki, "I'm trying to call the Soul Society but they're not answering."

Ichigo glanced over at Rukia in disbelief, "You get service in the world of the living?"

"This isn't a regular cell phone you know!" Rukia argued back, "It's a spiritual device able to receive updates on hollow activities, their bounties and where they are most likely to be attacking. It also makes calls."

"Wait, I'm getting paid to do this?"

"No," Rukia scoffed and went back to fiddling with her Denreishinki, "I'm getting paid while you fight all the hollows that appear in Karakura Town because you took almost all of my spiritual powers. Think of this as paying off your debts to me."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and tried to see what Rukia was doing only for her to suddenly turn her back to him and hold her Denreishinki closer to her chest. Despite apologizing for something he didn't do, Ichigo knew that Rukia was still chaffing from the last time he had tried using her Denreishinki. While its outward appearance made it look simple to use, it was actually much more complicated to use. After he spent an hour fiddling around with it and finally managed to understand enough about it to use it, he had subsequently broken it when he turned on the hollow proximity alert and the phone began smoking in his hands.

"Maybe you just don't have service."

"Don't be dense, Ichigo!" Rukia was momentarily distracted when her Denreishinki pinged a few times before dying once more. Letting loose a curse from her lips that had Ichigo raise an eyebrow in surprise, Rukia sighed and closed the device, "It was working fine until last night. I was in the middle of a report to the Soul Society when the line suddenly went dead. I tried calling back a few times but I can't get anyone to pick up. I'm starting to get a little worried."

"Did you try talking to Hat-and-Clogs?"

"Yeah," Rukia sighed and groaned as she sat up and stretched out her back, "At first I thought my Denreishinki was defective and demanded he give me a replacement, but that too didn't work. Whatever's going on in the Soul Society it must be big. I'm not the only one to lose contact with them. I talked with the shinigami representative of Kyoto and he said the same thing. All orders and reports from the Soul Society stopped roughly around midnight last night."

This wasn't a coincidence. Ichigo could have assumed he was simply suffering the temporary aftereffects of an extremely vivid nightmare but everything else going on was starting to make him doubt whether that really was a dream after all. With the dream, blackouts across the world and now Rukia unable to contact the Soul Society, Ichigo was starting to think something really bad was going to happen.

"Go talk to Kisuke, Rukia," Ichigo said as he decided on a plan of action, "Tell him I don't think this is a coincidence."

"Huh?" Rukia looked at Ichigo in confusion, "What are you talking about Ichigo?"

Icihgo glanced to the side before speaking, "You said that you lost contact with the Soul Society last night, right? That's about the same time parts of the world begun losing power for no reason. If anyone might know what's going on, it will be Kisuke. He might be a shopkeeper, but I'll bet my reputation that the man is a smart bastard."

"So you're saying something caused both problems?" Rukia didn't look like she believed him, "It…might be possible but the amount of power needed to sever the connection between the Soul Society and the world of the living would be astronomical. Even the leader of the Soul Society does not have the power necessary to cut off the connection."

"No," Rukia admitted angrily, "But there has to be a logical explanation. The Soul Society has been around for thousands of years. It couldn't have just up and vanished overnight."

"Whatever," Ichigo simply shrugged his shoulders and walked to the edge of the roof. Just as he stepped onto the raised edge of the roof he felt a hand firmly grasp the back of his shihakusho and violently yank him backwards.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Ichigo gave one good tug and managed to free himself from Rukia's surprisingly tight grip, "I'm going to go check on my family. If something bad is really going to happen I need to make sure they are safe."

Rukia seemed to mull over her words before she spoke, "I understand you're concerned about your family, but you need to look at the big picture. If something bad is really happening to the Soul Society like you think, you might be needed to help them. When you took my powers you also took all my responsibilities to keep the balance between the living and the dead. You can't allow your attachment to your family to get in the way of your duties."

"Like hell I can!" Ichigo crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I promised to guard Karakura Town from hollows until you regained your powers! I didn't say anything about joining a military or taking any of your other responsibilities. My family has priority over any of your stupid nonsense!"

Before Rukia could protest further, Ichigo leapt off the roof and easily landed on an adjacent building. As he pushed power to his legs and quickly made his way across Karakura Town towards his home, he heard Rukia shout, "Get back here, Ichigo! You make a lousy shinigami!"

"I'm only a substitute so it doesn't matter what you think!" was his nonchalant reply.

As he jumped from roof to roof, leaving Rukia behind to find her own way back, Ichigo couldn't help but feel that something was off. He had accepted that his life would become a little stranger when he temporarily took over Rukia's shinigami duties after a hollow attacked his family but that paled in comparison to the strangeness hovering in the atmosphere. He couldn't explain why a simply power outage had his nerves frayed. It was something that happened but this time he couldn't help but feel something else besides a faulty power grid was the cause.

"_I'm probably just over thinking things. No one said that being a shinigami was easy,"_ Ichigo pushed off the edge of a shop's roof to land on a building several dozen meters away. As his sandaled foot touched the concrete roof he felt a pulse of power radiate through his body.

Skidding to a stop Ichigo looked around for the source of the power but found nothing out of the ordinary. Remembering the lesson Rukia had taught him about concentrating mentally to locate spiritually powerful beings Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. While sensing spiritual pressures to an accomplished and trained shinigami would take a few seconds, to someone like Ichigo who had no real training such a feat took nearly a minute. Even after managing to sense where the pressure originated from, the best he could do was pinpoint it as coming from the east. Adjusting his zanpakuto on his back, Ichigo took off in search of the strange power he felt. Somehow he felt that this power was connected with everything going on.

It didn't take Ichigo long to arrive at the spot where he last sensed the power and he immediately noticed that it was too quiet. With a hand on his zanpakuto, ready to unsheathe it at a moment's notice, he glanced from side to side and asked, "Where is everyone?"

The entire street was empty apart from several abandoned cars that seemed to have been left behind in the heat of the moment. Walking up to one of them, Ichigo noticed that not only was the car still on and the keys in the ignition, there was a purse in the passenger's seat. Whatever happened was bad enough for someone to leave behind all of their valuables.

Turning off the car, Ichigo stood back up and looked around, "What happened – "

Ichigo was cut off as a massive explosion rocked Karakura Town. Stumbling as the ground shook violently before eventually settling back down, Ichigo looked north towards the source of the explosion and saw a thick plume of black smoke rising up into the sky. Frowning as he realized the smoke was coming from near Karakura Power Station, Ichigo took off in a run to go investigate. That was when he first started finding the bodies.

"_What the fuck?"_

Ichigo wasn't someone who preferred to curse. It was perhaps one of the few lessons his father had ingrained into his mind but the scene in front of him deserved nothing less. There were dozens of bodies littering the road and sidewalks and most of them seemed to have been sliced to pieces. Swallowing nervously and gingerly stepping around the bodies Ichigo stepped up to a body that seemed to be burning with a green flame. Putting his hand close to the fire he almost immediately recoiled when a sense of wrongness radiated up his arm.

"Wait a second. Where are all the souls?"

He learned an unfortunate part of being a shinigami a few days after agreeing to take up the job when he was came upon a major car accident that left seven people, including two children, dead. Seeing their mangled and bloody spirits was almost enough to make him give up being a shinigami but it was only due to Rukia, who said damaged souls are fully healed upon being sent to the Soul Society, which allowed him to press on.

Shaking his head and closing his eyes to block out the images of the desecrated bodies, Ichigo turned and looked down the street. All these people, who had been helpless in the face of an unknown enemy, had been running in the same direction.

Running in that direction, Ichigo was determined to find the cause of all this mindless and violent death and make them pay dearly. He wasn't sure if he had it in him to kill them, but he would make sure they wouldn't have the chance to kill anyone else. As he made his way around several burning cars tossed around the road, Ichigo found what it was he was looking for and immediately wished he didn't.

Strewn across the road with the radio in one of the cars constantly blaring nothing but static were the bodies of almost a dozen police officers clad in full body armor. Ichigo would have felt sick to his stomach if it wasn't for the other corpses in the street. Riddled with too many bullet holes to count were the corpses of more demons than he could count. From the looks of things, it appeared that the police had tried to make a final stand only to be overwhelmed by the horde of never-ending demons.

Stepping over the body of one of the officers, his burnt remains still crackling with an unholy green fire, Ichigo knelt down next to the nearest demon. The creature was about ten to twelve feet tall with dark purplish skin and had six arms, all of which still loosely clung to the orange scimitars lying on the ground. Ignoring the fact that the demon was wearing just enough to cover her more intimate areas, Ichigo subconsciously knocked the six swords out of her hands and stood back up.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ichigo stared at the corpse of the demon for a few more seconds before turning around. He needed to find Rukia and fast. These demons were extremely tough, very deadly and had no compunctions about killing humans. Ichigo hated to admit it, but he was way out of his league.

* * *

...

* * *

Chaos reigned rampant through downtown Karakura Town.

After leaving school early due to the power outage, Orihime and Tatsuki had planned on doing some light shopping at the mall before eating lunch. They had to meet Ichigo and Chad at the library later on but that didn't mean they couldn't relax and have a good time. It was as they were leaving a department store in search of something nice to wear that all hell broke loose.

A shimmering green portal had appeared in the middle of the mall, drawing people closer based on how odd it looked. Orihime had been one of those drawn to the strange portal but Tatsuki's danger sense, honed after years of martial arts, warned her to get away. Grabbing Orihime's arm, she pulled her friend back and made a break for the exit to the mall. That decision would end up saving their lives. Not a minute after Tatsuki fled the scene demons from the Burning Legion, numerous and thirsty for blood, began pouring forth from the portal and slaughtered all the humans they could find.

"Run faster Orihime!" Tatsuki shouted to her friend as they ran through the parking lot alongside dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other people fleeing the expanding massacre.

Orihime ducked behind a car as several fireballs, tinted green by the fel magic creating them, soared through the air and crashed into the ground around her. After the onslaught of magic abetted for the moment, she ran away and barely missed getting skewered on the end of a jagged and blackened sword belonging to a felguard.

"_God damn it!"_

Tatsuki leapt over a car and delivered a kick to the felgaurds face that forced the demon off its feet and onto the ground. Smashing her foot one more time into the dazed demon's face and ignoring the smell of burning rubber from her partially melted shoe, Tatsuki grabbed Orihime by the wrist and dragged her back onto her feet, "We need to get out of here, Orihime!"

"How do we fight demons?" Orihime asked fearfully as she continued to run away from a now irritated felguard. The demon, upon seeing its victim escaping, was swinging his sword back and forth, cleaving through the cars around him with ease.

"Like hell I know!" Tatsuki answered. She had no idea how they were to fight an actual demon but that didn't matter. All that mattered to her was keeping Orihime safe and sound. To do that she needed her friend to stop panicking, "I have an idea, but first we need to lose this asshole."

Tatsuki's plan to safely escape was halted when several demons, fresh off kills and looking for more easy victims, noticed the two of them and began running across the parking lot towards them. Roaring and pointing their weapons at the two girls, the felguards smashed cars and other vehicles as they charged forward with their weapons raised in the air.

"Damn it!" Tatsuki couldn't believe their bad luck. Weaving and sliding her way between overturned and burning cars with Orihime right behind her, she spotted a narrow alley across the street and got an idea, "Head for that alley Orihime! We can lose them in there!"

"Ah!"

Orihime, too focused on running away from the demons, had tripped over the charred and burnt remains of some unfortunate soul who hadn't expected fel magic to blow up his car. Even though Orihime was not hurt by the fall, it had given the felguards chasing them enough time to catch up and loom over her body. With eyes wide in terror, Orihime watched as the red-skinned demons cackled to each other before they all raised their swords to skewer her all at once.

"_Please…"_ Orihime begged as she closed her eyes, Tatsuki's screams of protest muted in the background, _"…don't let this be too painful…"_

The pain never came to Orihime as several loud shots echoed through the air. Opening one eye and then the other, Orihime was treated to the sight of the felguards falling back under an onslaught of bullets and heavy weaponry. The demons must have not been expecting the humans to fight back nor be able to harm them. As demon after demon were gunned down before getting close enough to take out the shooters, their retreat turned into a full on rout. Demons might have been known for running head on into battle against impossible odds but how were they to fight an enemy that could take them down from dozens of meters away? Without any warlocks of their own, the demons were walking into a veritable slaughter.

While Orihime's stunned mind tried to piece together what was happening, she felt a pair of hands pull her off the ground and a gruff voice ask ,"Are you alright? Did they injure you in any way?"

The member of the Japanese Self-Defense Force didn't wait for Orihime's answer as he picked her up in a fireman's carry and ran towards the line of soldiers, police officers and volunteers taking out every demon that they saw. Each person was covered head to foot in ballistic anti-impact armor designed more for stopping heavy impacts than bullets. Running through a temporary gap in the lines, the soldier put Orihime back down on the ground next to Tatsuki, who asked, "What's going on?"

"No time to explain," the soldier pointed the two girls towards an armored van where other civilians and victims were being herded into. Tatsuki wanted to ask more questions but was cut off as several new roars echoed through the area.

"What the hell?" she heard one person shout before everybody started opening fire on the newly arrived demons, "They have rock monsters as well? Oh, come on!"

Without any hesitation, the soldier pushed Tatsuki and Orihime into the back of the van and slammed the door shut just as several rocket powered grenades were launched toward the line of Infernals stomping their way towards the humans. While they might have only been mindless giants of fel magic and rock animated by the nathrezim just starting to come through the portal in the mall, they weren't immune to the overwhelming power of the humans' weaponry. The rockets not only punched through the Infernals with ease, but exploded with enough force to take its target and anything within ten feet out at the same time.

The soldier banged his hand against the driver side of the van, signaling the driver to get out of here. Giving the refugees a silent prayer that they would make it out of Karakura Town alive, he ran back to the front lines as several new and dangerous demons started making themselves known. He had a job to do and he was willing and able to see it done even if it cost him his life.

* * *

...

* * *

Ichigo was starting to think he should have kept his mouth shut.

The succubus he was fighting let out a cocky laugh as she snapped her whip at him, the spiked weapon wrapping itself around his forearm tightly enough to draw blood. Thinking that she had won the fight, the succubus gave a lusty chuckle and tried to pull Ichigo off balance only to realize how much she had underestimated Ichigo's strength and determination.

"I've had just about enough of this!" Ichigo shouted angrily. Spinning his arm around, he gripped the whip with his hand while ignoring the barbs on it and gave a determined tug. The succubus cried out in surprise as she was roughly pulled off her feet towards the shinigami. The cry quickly and painfully turned into a chocked gasp as Ichigo thrust his free arm forward and impaled his zanpakuto through her chest.

Pushing the succubus's body off his zanpakuto with his foot, ignoring the wet squishing sound as a spray of purple blood accompanied the motion, Ichigo hissed in pain as he examined the wounds on his arm. The barbs on the succubus's whip hadn't been that sharp, but there were so many of them that his forearm was littered with small bleeding gashes.

"Damn it," Ichigo wiped some demon blood that had gotten on his cheek onto the sleeve of his increasingly ruined shihakusho. He was starting to get annoyed with how much blood demons sprayed out when they died. If he didn't make sure to constantly maneuver his body to the side whenever he killed one of them, he would have already been covered with the disgusting blood. Grimacing in disgust at the body in front of him, he shouldered his zanpakuto and out loud, "How many of these things are there, anyway?"

Ichigo was getting sick and tired of cutting down one demon only to have several more appear out of the woodworks. He didn't know where they were all coming from but at the current rate he would collapse from exhaustion soon if it didn't stop soon.

"Ha…ha…" Ichigo took in gulps of air as he pushed himself forward. He couldn't stop now, not when everything was on the line. As he walked down the street, ignoring the bullet ridden bodies of demons along the way, he was blown off his feet as a green meteor no bigger than a car crashed down onto the road in front of him. Nearly blown off his feet from the impact, Ichigo was quickly forced to duck as the meteor seemed to unwrap and the wrathguard sliced his blade in the space where Ichigo's neck had just been.

Flipping backwards and taking a deep breath, Ichigo gave the wrathguard a cocky grin, "You almost got me, but don't think you'll get another chance!"

The wrathguard growled menacingly and said something to Ichigo that the substitute shinigami didn't understand before slamming its sword into the ground. For a moment Ichigo didn't know what he was doing but he leapt to the side as a column of fire raced towards him along the ground.

"What the hell?" he gasped before quickly bringing his zanpakuto up to block the demon's second strike. The two weapons met in a shower of sparks and dominance as the wrathguard attempted to shatter Ichigo's weapon before killing the shinigami. When Ichigo's zanpakuto not only remained intact but actually started chipping away at the demon's own weapon, the wrathguard let out a furious growl.

"What's…the matter?" Ichigo grunted as he pushed more power into his arms and forced the wrathguard's sword further and further away from his body. As he saw the demon's muscles visibly straining to overcome Ichigo's strength, he smirked and asked, "Having some trouble fighting one human? It isn't so easy when we can fight back, is it?"

The wrathguard roared and with a considerable amount of effort pushed Ichigo back before raising a clawed hand and pointing it at the substitute shinigami. Ichigo saw the attack coming and quickly leapt into the air as the wave of felfire crackled only inches from his feet. As he sailed through the air and swung his zanpakuto downwards the demon had no time to react or defend before its body was split in two nearly vertically, the soul blade searing right through both demonic armor and flesh like they were paper.

With a dispassionate look Ichigo rested his zanpakuto on his shoulder while he watched the two halves of the wrathguard fall to the ground, "These guys always seem to be so surprised when I kill them."

While it was odd that every demon he fought seemed to think they were invincible right until the moment his zanpakuto pierced their body, Ichigo couldn't care less. Even if they are demons and are capable of using very dangerous techniques, they weren't immortal and thus could be killed. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo turned around and began heading in the opposite direction. With all these demons appearing he needed to go back home and make sure his family was safe.

A series of hauntingly chilling laughter echoed from his side and Ichigo quickly jumped upwards as a bolt of living shadows skewered the air and shattered the pavement where his feet had just been. Landing nearby, Ichigo swung his zanpakuto and deflected another Shadow Bolt into the side of a nearby building as his assailant stalked her way towards him in a very disturbing manner.

"**This is such a…unusual occurrence," **The shivarra's voice spoke in an erotic tone as she stared at the young shinigami that had actually deflected her Shadow Bolt. Not many beings could do that, which meant Ichigo must have an unusually strong soul. Grabbing the six swords strapped to her back, she smirked with a fang-filled mouth and asked, **"So what shall it be…business or pleasure?"**

Ichigo didn't bother answering as he sprinted along the ground with his zanpakuto trailing behind his body. Throughout his battles against the demons he had been developing a sort of sense when it came to their powers. Some were more powerful and dangerous than others, which helped when he fought them. The shivarra in front of him was causing his instincts to scream at him. He couldn't afford to go easy for even a second or he would die.

As the shivarra laughed at his bravado and ran to meet him in battle, Ichigo only hoped that his friends and family were able to get out of Karakura Town alive and safe. He didn't have much time to waste.

* * *

...

* * *

Kil'jaeden the Deceiver watched through the tear between dimensions at the invasion and was not pleased. Nursing the oozing and cauterized wounds across his body, the eredar's glowing eyes narrowed dangerously at the route the supposedly easy invasion was advancing. There were not many times Kil'jaeden would willingly admit he made a mistake but this was perhaps the sole instance where he could not blame anyone but himself for such a failure.

After the two debacles to take the planet of Azeroth, the second of which resulted in the death of Archimonde and the loss of several commanders of the Burning Legion, Kil'jaeden master had decided to go about things a little differently. Although he had lost control of Ner'zhul and the Scourge it mattered not in the end. Whether the Lich King was a traitor or not didn't matter so long as the Scourge continued to weaken the rest of the mortal races. Ner'zhul thought it was so clever of him to merge his soul with the human prince to free himself, but little did the former shaman know that the Plague of Undeath was designed with one key weakness. The moment Kil'jaeden stepped through a portal onto Azeroth, he could take command of the vast army of undead with but a single thought.

While plans were in place for a third invasion of Azeroth, Kil'jaeden went about recruiting new races in the Burning Legion. In the past the first step of an invasion was to send the Nathrezim to a suitable planet and subvert the inhabitants into summoning the Burning Legion. After the War of the Ancients failed to bring the master through the portal and the number of Nathrezim commanders were cut in half during the so-called Third War by the mortal races, Kil'jaeden gathered his minions and gave them new orders. When they discovered a new inhabited planet they are not to immediately subvert the races. Instead they are to observe and record any possible strengths and weaknesses that could be used against the Burning Legion. If an invasion had to be delayed several years to counteract a power the mortal races possessed, then so be it.

When Mephistroth discovered the world of Earth and its bountiful resources, Kil'jaeden had been most pleased. Here was a race of beings, these so-called shinigami alongside demon-like hollows and arrancar, which could function as powerful soldiers of the Burning Legion. The only problem was that they were all immune to the temptations the Nathrezim gave. There was something about their being, an inherent trait perhaps, that caused them to be immune to possession and manipulation by the dreadlords. Such a force could not be allowed to exist. As loathe as Kil'jaeden was to do so, a direct approach was needed to squash this Soul Society before they were able to reach other worlds.

Usually Kil'jaeden would just have the native races open the portals, like the Highborne did on Azeroth, but that was impossible in this case due to the only beings capable of such power being immune to possession by the Nathrezim. That meant he had to open the portal from his end in the Twisting Nether, a process that would sap the Deceiver of most of his power and leave him vulnerable to powerful individuals. It was just as Kil'jaeden was preparing the portal that Mephistroth brought him news that greatly pleased the eredar.

The senkaimon gates the shinigami used to travel between their realm and Earth would be their downfall. They functioned nearly identically to that of the Burning Legion's demonic portals, which allowed Kil'jaeden, with a concentrated effort, to hijack the senkaimon and reverse the process. Within seconds of taking control of the senkaimon gate foolishly opened by the shinigami, thousands of demons began pouring into the Soul Society and slaughtering the hapless shinigami and souls.

At first everything was going well and Kil'jaeden began to consider that he might not have to interfere in the invasion. Mephistroth had been adamant in his recommendation that overwhelming force be used to subdue the Soul Society but Kil'jaeden wasn't seeing anything that would require such drastic measures. It was only when several of his higher ranking Nathrezim were killed that the Deceiver got off his throne. The Nathrezim were not only being killed but their essences weren't returning to the Twisting Nether. Such an insult to his leadership would not be tolerated.

Stepping through the portal into the heart of the Soul Society accompanied by a blast of fire and mana, Kil'jaeden felt the power of the captains and decided to push things forward. Focusing on the closest captain, Kil'jaeden concentrated mana in his finger and was able to cast Armageddon when an armored giant nearly his own size formed into existence in front of him.

"_**How interesting,"**_ the Deceiver shifted the focus of his spell upon the giant. Accompanied by a sonic boom, the Armageddon flew through the air and tore directly through the giant's chest, _**"And resilient. You should have been completely evaporated by my attack."**_

Sensing the captain in front of him on the verge of death, Kil'jaeden turned around and sensed someone trying to confound his senses. Illusions were always a tricky matter to deal with and the caster of this particular illusion was quite skilled. It was too bad for them that illusions, like any other magic, can be easily broken if one knows exactly what they are doing. Focusing his mana around his body, Kil'jaeden roared as a blast of fel energy exploded off his body, killing not only the illusionist but every single demon and shinigami within a one mile radius.

Due to the overwhelming power of the Deceiver, every captain broke off their individual fights against the demons of the Burning Legion in order to deal with the leader. However everything they tried failed. Kido, bankai and even forbidden techniques usually punishable with instant death failed against the Deceiver. The only time Kil'jaeden was forced backwards from his goal was when Zaraki Kenpachi tore off his eyepatch and combined attacks with Retsu Unohana, but even that only gave the Deceiver at his full power a minor cut on his shoulder.

"_**You dare assault me?"**_ Kil'jaeden had been more irritated with himself than with the two captains he so callously obliterated. He has let his guard down and has suffered the consequences for it.

Despite everything thrown against him, Kil'jaeden eventually reached the center of the Soul Society only to find the Yamamoto waiting patiently for him.

"_**Your men are defeated and you are next,"**_ Kil'jaeden had said mockingly to Yamamoto while he prepared to cast Finger of Death against the aged shinigami. When Yamamoto effortlessly reflected the attack using his zanpakuto, Kil'jaeden was mildly surprised. Such an occurrence was rare but not impossible. That surprise soon turned to shock when he heard the captain utter 'bankai' and felt pain for the first time in millennia.

The initial strike nearly severed Kil'jaeden's arm and it was only due to his immense and ancient shields that he was able to keep it at all. Yamamoto's attack not only cauterized the wound, but left a gouge in the earth at least half a kilometer long behind the eredar. Now greatly worried about the power of the Captain-Commander, Kil'jaeden became aware of a rapid dryness of the air alongside a steady increasing temperature. Turning back to Yamamoto, whose charred and blackened zanpakuto was smoldering at his side, Kil'jaeden conjured all the power and mana he could and raced forward to engage the Captain-Commander.

The battle against the Captain-Commander had lasted nearly an hour. Dark magicks and Armageddon spells proved to be less than effective against the aura of fire surrounding the Captain-Commander while the intense heat in the shinigami's zanpakuto wasn't as effective in cutting the eredar's flesh through his magical shields. A multitude of attacks were exchanged, the Soul Society surrounding the two combatants both burning and disintegrating from the powerful attacks, before Kil'Jaeden finally won. Exhausted of his mana and bleeding heavily from various wounds, the Deceiver could do nothing but flee back into the Twisting Nether as the Captain-Commander unleashed one final attack that not only destroyed his body but the entire Soul Society as well. Thousands, perhaps millions, of demons of the Burning Legion were instantly and painfully vaporized as a heat as hot as the sun's core expanded through the world, taking them all out in one final burst of power.

Reeling from his battle and enraged at the loss of such a valuable army, Kil'jaeden felt an anger course through his corrupted veins at a level not seen since Velen betrayed him twenty-five thousand years ago. Stepping back out into the smoldering ruins of the Soul Society, neither a demon nor shinigami in sight, Kil'jaeden was intrigued when he saw a group of humans appear out of the shadows and look around.

It was the leader of these humans, who called himself Yhwach, which temporarily peaked Kil'jaeden's interest. Upon witnessing the wounds on the Deceiver's body and the fact that the eredar's power eclipsed even his own, Yhwach offered the services of himself and his Sternritter to the Burning Legion. It was an intriguing prospect to the eredar, but an examination of Yhwach's power quickly left a bad taste in Kil'jaeden's mouth.

The man was a soul manipulator and a very dangerous one at that. Kil'jaeden could feel parts of the man's soul lingering deep within each of his followers, siphoning off their life energies in order to increase his own strength when they die. The Deceiver had encounter two such beings in his long existence and both of them had been the only times he had come close to being defeated. Luckily Yhwach was not nearly at their level of strength, which allowed Kil'jaeden to quickly spurn Yhwach's offer by casting Darkness of a Thousand Souls to instantly evaporate half of the quincies in range.

"_**I'm afraid I must decline your offer of servitude,"**_ Kil'jaeden had told the surprised Yhwach as he turned to leave for the Twisting Nether. With a single snap of his fingers, a large and complex spell array appeared beneath his and the quincy's collective feet. He didn't like having to do this but since the Soul Society no longer had any use to the Burning Legion, there was no reason to hold back, _**"I see you are confused about what happened to your follower so let me enlighten you. I did not kill your zealots. I wiped their very souls from existence. That means the small fragments of your soul you infused into their being are also gone. You should consider yourself fortunate for your death will be quick and painless due to services rendered. Oh, and do not think to try and escape to your Shadow Realm as I've already taken the liberty of sealing the entrance. Your ability to manipulate your soul shall not save you from death."**_

As Kil'jaeden had turned to leave the shattered remains of the Soul Society, one of Yhwach's followers charged at the eredar lord and attempted to shoot a burst of fire from his fingers. Without even bothering to turn around, Kil'jaeden waved his hand and immediately incinerated the foolish man inside an inferno of fel fire.

The creatures in the other dimension, hollows and arrancar his Nathrezim informed him, were only slightly more useful than the shinigami. While they were also immune to the machinations of his loyal Nathrezim, they had an inherent bloodlust and viciousness, brought about by the corruption of their soul, which caused the Deceiver to pause before destroying them all. Mindful of the fact that nearly all the hollows were mindless beasts that craved souls, Kil'jaeden quickly had the Burning Legion destroy them. He did not need another army of mindless beasts that could not listen to directions. As strong and versatile as they may be, Kil'jaeden had no choice but to annihilate them.

The arrancar, on the other hand, were of some use to Kil'jaeden. While most of them would not cower in front of his immense power and were subsequently destroyed down to their very last essence, Kil'jaeden was pleased to leave Hueco Mundo with several newly loyal followers in tow. The handful of arrancar that had sworn fealty to the Burning Legion would be infused with the fel and arcane energy permeating the Twisting Nether. With their already appreciable powers augmented by the corruption already spreading throughout their very souls, they would soon be the elite commanders of an infinite horde of demons.

* * *

..

* * *

Even though the Burning Legion was rampaging across the globe, silence reigned supreme in downtown Karakura Town. The rampage of the Burning Legion through the city had been quickly met by the police and an all-out fight between the two forces led to the police retreated to the outskirts of Karakura Town closely followed by the demons. That did not mean the demons were slaughtering the humans left and right. While the demons of the Burning Legion possessed speed, strength and power greater than a human's, they were not immune to a bullet travelling at nearly the speed of sound.

Humanity was not going down without a fight.

Throughout the world, the different countries that had initially been caught off guard by the demons were quickly establishing their power as they fought back and not only stalled the Burning Legion's advance but were actually forcing the demons back. The Annihilan, which towered ten meters off the ground and were among the strongest of the demons in the Burning Legion, were helpless in the face of anti-armor rounds from both ground and air-based vehicles. Succubae, which used their charms to force opponents to fight each other, could not do anything against snipers nearly half a kilometer away. While humanity may have had the power to force back the soldiers of the Burning Legion, they were slowly being whittled away from the sheer and immense size of the Burning Legion itself. Six billion humans were but a drop of water against the ocean that was the endless demon army.

In one of the deserted streets of Karakura Town, Ichigo Kurosaki crashed through a store window and bounced once on the pavement before skidding to a stop. Spitting a wad of saliva and blood onto the street, he grimaced and wiped the side of his mouth as the demon he was fighting climbed out of the building. The shivarra smirked arrogantly as she twirled her six swords through the air in a display of power.

"**You are strong boy…" **The shivarra licked the glowing blue and purple blood off one of her arms from a lucky strike by Ichigo. Smiling sadistically at her opponent, she tapped her swords against the ground and shivered seductively, **"But why are you fighting against me? Your power could be used in more…productive ways…"**

"Go to hell," Ichigo bit back angrily and raised his zanpakuto.

The shivarra frowned angrily before snarling and rushing towards Ichigo, who quickly began swinging his zanpakuto in order to parry and block every strike. His battle against the female demon had already stretched for several minutes now and Ichigo was already beginning to get a sense of her fighting style. While she had six arms and thus could use six weapons, she fought much like she only had two. She would attack with the three in her right hands before using the three in her left hands before repeating the pattern once again.

"_Wait for it…"_

Ichigo twisted his body to the side and narrowly avoided getting impaled through the shoulder. Ignoring the two gashes in his shihakusho and his arm from the shivarra's swords, Ichigo waited for the brief second between when the shivarra attacked and her arms were pulled back. Rushing forward and shouting, Ichigo thrust his zanpakuto straight through the demon's bare stomach, causing her to emit a groan of both pain and surprise.

"**But I…"** The shivarra raised two trembling arms to Ichigo's zanpakuto and feebly attempted to remove it to no avail. Hacking up purple blood, the glow in her eyes already beginning to fade, she stared into Ichigo's eyes and slumped to the ground, **"I...wasn't…finished…"**

Ichigo stared at the slowly cooling body for several seconds, taking in the notion that he had killed a living being that was not a hollow. Quickly shaking his head while also reminding himself that these things were killing innocent people, he yanked his zanpakuto out of her body with a wet noise. Flicking his blade to the side to remove the purple blood staining it, Ichigo looked around for any signs of demons but quickly stumbled as exhaustion caught up with him.

"Damn it," Ichigo stumbled and continued to walk forward. He couldn't stop now. His family, friends and everyone he cared about were depending on him to save them. He would not let the power Rukia gave him go to waste by dying. Gripping his zanpakuto tightly, he ran forward and turned the corner only to stop and stare at what he saw.

"What…the…fuck…"

Ichigo couldn't believe what he was seeing. Streaking through the skies above Karakura Tow with a trail of sickly green smoke and dust trailing behind it was a glowing meteor. As he continued to watch it streak the air in disbelief, Ichigo was forced to cover his ears when the meteor crashed into the ground and shattered nearly every single window in Karakura Town.

Slowly and carefully opening his eyes, Ichigo cursed at what he saw, "Oh, come on!"

The reason the meteor hadn't destroyed Karakura Town and the surrounding area was simple - it wasn't a meteor. As the outer casing peeled off and fell to the ground, Ichigo saw that the meteor was actually a Pit Lord. The demon towered overhead to nearly the same height as most of the buildings and resembled a mutated lizard with two small pairs of vestigial wings on its back and a large double-sided blade in its clawed hands. As the Pit Lord began swinging his massive blade around, destroying multiple buildings in a single sweep, Ichigo could hear the screams of those still trapped within the city. He knew he did not stand a chance against that thing, but if he did nothing people would die. If he could save even one person from death, then he could die happy

"Do not be foolish Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo stopped as the world around him flickered before time seemed to freeze. With one hand on his zanpakuto, he turned around and confronted the man from his dreams, "Who are you?"

"My name has been lost to the ages, best forgotten to the sands of time," The man slowly walked towards Ichigo with his staff gently tapping along the ground as he went. Stopping in front of a still cautious Ichigo, the man slammed the end of his staff one final time on the ground and in a burst of light Ichigo found himself on top of one of the skyscrapers clear across Karakura Town.

"What the hell?" Ichigo took a step back and nearly fell off the side of the building. He didn't know how the man did it, but he managed to teleport Ichigo and himself halfway across the city. As a loud roar echoed through the air, Ichigo realized that the teleportation seemed to have restarted time as well.

"Do not confuse foolishness with bravado," the man chastised Ichigo and pointed his staff at the demon. Ichigo found it odd that the demon hadn't yet noticed them, "At your current level you do not stand a chance against a Pit Lord."

"I don't care," Ichigo went to push past the man to the Pit Lord currently cutting a swath of destruction through the town, but found his path abruptly blocked by an invisible wall. Gripping his zanpakuto tightly, he turned to the man and glared, "I'll find out whatever you know about what's going on after I'm done dealing with that thing."

"You're willingness to head straight into danger is admirable." With a tap of the man's staff, Ichigo found his feet stuck to the roof by a glowing green light, "But you will heed my words. If you decide to embark on a pointless battle afterwards I will not try to stop you."

If Ichigo was expecting the man to be put off by him he was surprised when the man's gaze simply shifted away from him and to the pit lord, "That 'thing' as you call it is what is known as an annihilan pit lord. Unlike the rest of their demonic kin the annihilan do not possess endless numbers. Their appearance on your world is an indication that the Burning Legion has destroyed any and all worthwhile resistance it might have faced."

"People are dying you bastard! I have to do something!" Ichigo tried to leap off the roof towards the pit lord but found his feet stuck to the roof. At first confused as to why he couldn't move, his confusion turned to anger when he saw the man's palm pointing at him and glowing a faint bluish-purple, "Damn it! Why are you stopping me from helping those people?"

"I wish for you to listen to what I have to say," The man calmly said before adding on, "If you choose to ignore my words afterwards I will not try to stop you."

Ichigo tried to escape from the spell holding his legs to the roof but found to his frustration that it was impossible. Whatever technique the man had cast to prevent him from fighting the Pit Lord was similar to Rukia's but many times more powerful. He didn't understand how the man could have cast such a technique so quickly but that only made Ichigo angrier, "How can I stand here listening to you when there are demons out there destroying my world?"

"Do not let emotions cloud your judgment Ichigo Kurosaki."

For the first time since speaking, the man's tone held a hint of anger and Ichigo found himself stunned by it. The sheer amount of power and authority radiating form the man was otherworldly and put everything else he had ever sensed to shame. Noticing that he now had Ichigo's undivided attention, the man pointed to the Pit Lord and said, "With but a flexing of my finger I could destroy that Annihilan down to its very essence, but this is not just some random demonic incursion from the Twisting Nether. It cannot be repelled with numbers and power. The humans of your planet are putting up an admirable fight, one that the Burning Legion did not anticipate, but they are simply buying time. For every demon killed another twenty are already taken their place."

"Burning Legion?" Ichigo asked.

The man's looked sadly downwards before speaking, "I hoped my warning would reach you well in advance of the Legion's arrival. I intended my warnings to be sufficient for you to rally your people, the shinigami, against the Burning Legion and drive the demons back before they could get a foothold, but I misjudged the tenacity of Kil'jaeden the Deceiver to reach your world. Such an incursion has forced me to physically teleport to your world and converse with you directly, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo pondered what the man had told him. So this demon, Annihilan or Pit Lord or whatever, was only a soldier in an army of demons called the Burning Legion and not only that, there was nothing he could do about it? Looking at the Pit Lord once more, Ichigo turned to the man and asked, "Where is Kil'jaeden?"

"Do you intend to face Kil'jaeden?" The man's rhetorical question irked Ichigo but he did not have the time to argue, "The Deceiver's strength is akin to that of a god's. He could destroy that Pit Lord just as easily as I could. To him you would be nothing more than an ant. In various timelines and dimensions you might have eventually reached the level of power necessary to destroy Kil'jaeden but, alas, things haven't turned out the way they should have. There is nothing you can do to save your world. The Deceiver can and will destroy everything you love and cherish until nothing remains but ashes and memories."

"Bullshit!" Ichigo didn't know when or how, but the man had released the spell holding his feet to the roof. Rushing forward, he grabbed the front of the man's cloak and asked, "Do you expect me to just stand around and do nothing while demons kill everyone I care about? Are you saying that all the demons I stopped or killed amounted to nothing? You said that your power was the same as Kil'jaeden's. Why don't you fight back and save everyone?"

"Because I cannot," The man seemed insulted by Ichigo's insinuations and sighed gently, "I have seen what transpires if I were to fight back against the Burning Legion. The visions show me defeating Kil'jaeden but leaving your planet nothing but a withered husk without any life. More importantly, you would not escape, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"What…" Ichigo cast his gaze aside as he grasped at fleeting thoughts, "…what does that even mean?"

"Do not confuse my honesty for apathy," The man turned his back on Ichigo and raised his staff, "Your destiny is not to die here. You must know the truth of everything going on around you in order to move on and achieve your destiny. I cannot and will not say that I do not understand your pain. I have done things that have led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. I only hope that my actions today alleviate some of my sin."

"What about my family and friends?" Ichigo muttered as he tried to keep himself from attacking the man. Everything he had just been told was weighing heavily on his soul, but assaulting the man would accomplish nothing even if it would make him feel better. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, he asked, "Can't you save them as well?"

"I cannot," the man shook his head, "Such an act would deprive me of the power to save you. The distance between your world and my own is vast and immeasurable and it has taken much just to speak to you. I am not asking you to forget those you cherish, Ichigo. Memories are a powerful and precious thing. They can give us the determination and power to achieve that which we usually cannot hope to accomplish. Do not forget those you care about, since the moment you do you will lose sight of who you actually are."

A purple bolt of magic shot from the man's staff and flew through the air before abruptly stopping and expanding into a portal. When the man spoke it was a voice filled with regret, "Through this portal lies my home world. I cannot say what you will find on the other end or where you will even end up. The choice is yours Ichigo Kurosaki. You can take the portal to Azeroth, which has thrice defied the Burning Legion, or stay here and meet up with your family in the afterlife. I will not force you to do anything you do not want to do."

Ichigo glared heatedly at the man, "What kind of damned choice is that? Flee like a coward or suicide? Why are you helping me anyway?" There has to be other people more qualified for what you need. What makes me so special?"

"I cannot say. What is your decision, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"What choice do I really have?" Ichigo looked forlornly at what remained of Karakura Town before turning to the portal, "My family would never forgive me for dying a pointless death just to be with them. Dad would kick my ass in the afterlife for even thinking about giving up and dying."

Even though Ichigo couldn't see the man's face he could sense the sad smile on his face, "So have you decided then?"

Ichigo nodded and began walking towards the portal but before he could enter it he felt a hand on his shoulder, "A word of warning. Once you step through the portal, the arcane magic will convert your spiritual form to one of flesh of blood. While you shall retain most of your powers, take notice that your new body will have its limitations. Be careful and do what you think is right, not what others say is correct."

Experimentally pressing a hand against the surface of the portal Ichigo noticed that it felt like water. As he stuck his hand and then his entire arm into the portal he heard the man speak again, "My world is full of magic and wonder. There are beings there that will fill your mind with wonder, Ichigo, but where there is good there is also bad. Be careful, what is evil to one person could be considered necessary to another. Do not let your judgment be clouded by millennia of prejudices and hatred. Look underneath the surface for the answers you seek and you might just fight a way to save everyone."

Before passing through the portal, Ichigo turned and asked, "Who are you?"

"I have been called many things. The Last Guardian…the Prophet…The Accursed…but those names are all meaningless now. I am simply Medivh."

The Last Guardian watched Ichigo vanish through the portal of swirling magic before turning and walking away, "A hero is neither born nor are they chosen by others. A true hero is created when an ordinary person simply does the right thing. Ichigo Kurosaki…while I may have failed in my duties sending you to Azerorth is perhaps the last good thing I can do with my waning power. I know you will accomplish great things."


End file.
